"I'm a soldier
Unborn child of war
I'm a soldier
Mom, take care of my wounds
I'm a soldier
Soldier of a country forgotten by God
I'm a hero
Tell me of which novel"

The sad ukrainian song played inside a black M1117 Guardian armoured car as it crossed the Nevada desert under the night sky. The Guardian was part of a small military convoy belonged to Steel Talon internal security force. They were returning to base after a mission.

This ICV variant of the Guardian held three crew members and eight passengers, although the crew consisted of only a driver this time due to a shortage of personnel. The passengers were all members of Delta squad. Their leader, captain Markus Wilkerson, was playing the song from his ipod.

"Look here, boss man. Could you please stop playing that weird song over and over again? It creeps me out and I can't focus on driving at all!" The driver complained loudly.

"...But it drowns out the voices." Markus replied.

"What voices?" The driver asked back, clearly interested in what he heard.

"The voices of my comrades. Everytime I close my eyes, I see their faces. Screaming, calling for me to end it all."

No one said anything after that, as the driver tried to distract himself from Markus's disturbing words. The song continued to play, albeit at a lower volume.

In the next morning, the convoy arrived at Steel Talon's headquarter. It was one of the many military facilities inside Homey Airport, also known as Area 51. Steel Talon was actually a whole network of smaller independent taskforces, tech labs and agencies, so this headquarter was probably just for formality's sake. Still, the building was an impressive sight to behold, towering over the whole area like a black monolith. The convoy looked like a swarm of ants under its shadow.

The driver bolted out from the vehicle as soon as it stopped, as if escaping from something. Markus did not exit right away. He slowly looked at his teammates once more. These were all rookies on their first actual mission. Some wanted to protect the country. Some wanted to get rich from the absurbly high salary. Some wanted to be promoted to high rank before retirement. All of them were full of hopes and expectations.

How did he know? Because whenever a new batch of recruits came, he talked to them. Asked them what they liked, what they wanted to do, that sort of thing. That was the only nice thing he could do before pushing them to the grinder himself. It was an endless parade of new meat, marching straight into the jaw of a merciless machine. And they all died. Some managed to survive and become veterans, but they too perished along the way. In the end, he alone returned to tell the tale.

At first, he tried to stop them. But he could not. If he said no, the higher-ups would transfer him away and his replacement might be someone who sent them to the chopping block without a word. So he carried on. And talked to them, so they did not have to spend their last moments in desperate, frightened silence.

"We're home, folks! Mission accomplished." As usual, Markus called out to his teammates, using the most cheerful voice possible.

And as usual, no one replied. To be precise, no one could. They all came back in cold, lifeless body bags. Soon, they would be covered in the poisonous earth, awaiting merciful oblivion. Only their voices continued to echo in his mind. Forever.

Markus could not remember how he reported to the higher-ups and dragged his exhausted body back to the barrack. But it must have been terrible, for he was ordered to report to colonel Jane Doe right after returning to his bunk bed.

"Colonel" Jane Doe. Markus always felt like laughing out loud whenever he heard that, but was never in the mood to do so. Because everything about her was a lie. Anyone with some working braincells could tell Jane Doe was a place-holder name used when a person's true name must be concealed. And she was definitely not a colonel since she had the authority to order generals around like a bunch of lackeys.

Markus drove these random thoughts away from his head and fixed his uniform as he stood in front of the colonel's office. Before he could knock on the door, the person inside had already told him to enter.

"Congratulation on successfully completing your sixtieth mission, captain Wilkerson. Here are the details of your next mission. It is best that you read them yourself." Jane's lips curved into a playful smile as she handed him a thin folder labelled "Operation Plague Heart".

Coming from a mysterious cool beauty like her, that smile could have charmed any bright-eyed rookies. But to veterans such as Markus, it meant big trouble. Someone's life was about to be ruined and it might as well be him.

He carefully opened the folder to find a single piece of paper with only two lines printed on it: "Objective: Be happy. Consult with your commander for further details."

"Is this a joke? Am I punk'd?" It looked so much like a childish prank that Markus was starting to lose his cool. Not that there was any left in him after the last mission.

"Don't get too excited, captain. This is because your resignation request from last year was finally approved." Jane teased, clearly amused by his reaction.

Markus hastily corrected himself, "That was rude of me, ma'am. Please explain further about this new mission. How is it related to my resignation request?."

"When I told you rookies that you can only leave Steel Talon in body bags, I really meant it. If anyone wants to resign after their fiftieth mission, we first convince them to stay with promotion and pay raise. Those went on to become senior officers."

"What about those who still want to leave?"

"Simple. We kill them, physically and mentally. Send them on impossible missions, make them watch their comrades die, force them to kill a loved one, etc." Jane's smile turned incredibly sadistic as she watched the change in Markus's expression, "Unfortunately, you alone survived. So we made an exception."

"Why?" That was the only word to come out of Markus's mouth as he stood there, stunned.

"Because your body is no longer yours. Everytime you survived a mission, we "upgraded" you a little bit. Made you faster, stronger, more resilient, closer to perfection. To me!" Jane's face was filled with ecstasy as she announced to Markus, "We are the New Humanity Project."

"Come with me, my kin. Together, we will redefine humanity." She extended her hands to him, like a messiah calling out to his faithful believer.

But his answer was firm, "I refuse."

"Heh, unexpected but still within calculation." Jane wiped the smile from her face, "We still cannot let you resign though. Instead, you will go on a lifelong mission. Your only objective is to live like a "normal person" in the outside world. You may enlist the help of civilians as you see fit. Of course, our rules and code of conduct still apply. Any question?"

"All clear, ma'am." Markus nodded. At this point, he just wanted to leave this damned place as soon as possible.

As Markus turned around to leave, Jane's expression turned solemn, "Go on then, be free. But remember, you had been and will always be one of us. This place is your home and we are your only family."

He never looked back.